Even three days after the death of Kremlin opponent Navalny, his relatives are denied access to his body. This is likely to remain the case for some time.
According to his team, the Russian authorities want to keep the body of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in custody, under lock and key for at least another 14 days.
“The investigators have told Alexei's lawyers and mother that they will not release the body,” Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote on X on Monday. The reason given was “chemical tests” that are to be carried out on the dead man.
Navalny's family members had previously been denied access to his body for the third day in a row. The Kremlin critic's team said on Monday morning that his mother had not been allowed into a morgue where the dead man might be. “Alexei's mother and his lawyers came to the morgue early in the morning. They were not allowed in,” Yarmisch said on the online service X.
One of the lawyers was “literally thrown out”. When asked, the staff did not provide any information about whether Navalny's body was being stored in the hall, Jarmisch explained. Navalny's mother Lyudmila Navalnaya had already visited the morgue in the northern Siberian town of Salekhard on Saturday to collect her son's remains, but to no avail.
Russian authorities continue to investigate
According to Jarmisch, Russian authorities said that the investigation into Navalny's death in prison had been extended. “They are lying, playing for time and not even hiding it,” the spokeswoman said.
Video | Navalny's mother is denied access to the body
Source: Glomex
The Russian penal service said Navalny “felt unwell” and collapsed after walking outside in his penal colony in Siberia on Friday. Numerous Western politicians blamed the Russian leadership and President Vladimir Putin for the death of their prominent opponent. Navalny's death occurred a month before the presidential election in mid-March, in which Putin is expected to be re-elected due to the lack of real opposition. Putin has not yet commented on the incident.
